All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On December 6, 2024, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a notice stating that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved changes to the Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Article 6 “clear and reasonable warnings” regulations for “short-form” warnings (Notice). The changes adopted are to the proposed regulations that OEHHA issued on October 27, 2023. The history of these amendments, dating back to January 2021, are set forth in our memoranda...

On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a draft Interim Framework for Advancing Consideration of Cumulative Impacts (Interim Framework). 89 Fed. Reg. 92125. According to EPA, the Interim Framework provides a shared reference point for EPA programs and regions as they determine when and how to analyze and consider cumulative impacts. EPA states that Agency programs will incorporate the Interim Framework “into their processes and programs, as...

On December 5, 2024, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight held a hearing on “Examining the Public Health Impacts of PFAS Exposures.” The Subcommittee heard from the following witnesses (written testimony is not available at this time): Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Silent Spring Institute; Sue Fenton, Ph.D., Director of the Center...

On November 13, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of its final supplement to the risk evaluation and revised unreasonable risk determination for 1,4-dioxane under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 89 Fed. Reg. 89993. EPA states in the Federal Register notice that it “used the best available science to prepare this final supplement to the risk evaluation and has determined that 1,4-dioxane poses unreasonable risk to human health.” EPA...

The Acta Group (Acta®) is pleased to announce the expansion of our global scientific and regulatory capabilities with the appointments of Tiina A. Lantto, Ph.D., Regulatory Scientist and Toxicologist in our Brussels, Belgium, office, and Max L. Moseley, MSc, Regulatory Specialist in our Manchester, England, office. Dr. Tiina A. Lantto provides seasoned, sophisticated toxicology and regulatory guidance for worldwide chemical registration and compliance programs, with particular expertise in...

The number of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list is expected to expand greatly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Oct. 8, 2024, to add 16 PFAS and 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual PFAS subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). The...

On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of the National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution: Part Three of a Series on Building a Circular Economy for All. According to EPA, together with EPA’s “National Recycling Strategy” and the “National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics,” the “National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution” presents opportunities for voluntary and regulatory actions by...

On November 20, 2024, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the authorities from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden released a progress update on the process to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Europe. According to ECHA’s press release, the five authorities (Dossier Submitters) and ECHA’s scientific committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) continue to consider more than 5,600 scientific and technical comments...

On November 18, 2024, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) requested comments on planned rules governing reporting and fees paid by manufacturers upon submission of required information about products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). MPCA notes that “[a]t this stage, we do not have a draft rule; we want your feedback to inform us about the ideas described under the Subject of Rules section.” Instead, the purpose of the current request for comments (RFC) is to...